Originally facing first-degree murder charges with death penalty specifications, Conkel was represented by Armando Garcia and a team of attorneys expert in capital cases from the Nancy Daniels’ public defender’s office in Tallahassee.

State Attorney Willie Meggs was represented by Assistant State Attorney Jarred Patterson, who said the plea arrangement stepped the charge down to second degree, and included dropping two other felony charges, aggravated battery with a firearm and tampering with physical evidence.

In a Dec. 15, 2012 confession, Conkel confessed told investigators Brett Johnson and Duane Cook that she had a heated argument with her mother the morning of the killing after the two drove to 10 Mile Road west of Apalachicola.

Conkel said during the argument, she took her mother’s 25-caliber handgun, and used it to shoot her mother in the back before stabbing her repeatedly. According to an autopsy performed by the Leon County Medical Examiner’s Office, Green died from more than 60 stab wounds and a single gunshot to the back of the head.

Conkel said she then blacked out while stabbing her mother, and then dragged the body over a ledge at the end of the road and covered it with debris. She then said she threw the murder weapon into the bay.

“This was a heinous and atrocious thing,” said Patterson. “There’s been different conflicting stories and statements why. It’s in there somewhere what’s the truth.”

He said the prosecutors’ office agreed to the four-decade-long incarceration, of which Conkel will have to serve at least 85 percent, because “it seems most likely a life sentence.

“It had to do with the defendant’s age and the length of incarceration and what we felt was it was most likely a life sentence,” he said. “It gives her some semblance of hope.”

Conkel has been in the Franklin County Jail for a little over a year. She has gained considerable weight during that time, when a craving for illegal street drugs is believed to have influenced the crime.

Conkel was taken to Lowell Annex and now awaits transfer to a women’s facility. She is slated for release on Dec. 4, 2052

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.